Domestic abuse practice at Cafcass has improved in recent years, its chief executive has told MPs, following criticisms in a recent report.
Jacky Tiotto made the comments in an appearance before the House of Commons' justice select committee, in the wake of a report last month from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner that echoed some of the practice failings levied at the family court body in a damning 2020 study for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
The 2020 report, from a panel investigating the family courts’ response to domestic abuse and other harms, found practitioners’ court reports gave limited weight to children’s views, particularly when they said they did not want to spend time with an abusive parent.
The panel also found safeguarding interviews carried out by Cafcass family court advisers (FCAs) were inadequate in enabling victims to disclose abuse and heard that practitioners were quick to dismiss the relevance of domestic abuse to contact.
Domestic abuse improvement programme
The harm panel report led Cafcass to set up a national improvement programme that involved mandatory training and personal learning plans on domestic abuse for all FCAs, regular practice audits on the issue and ongoing support from specialist charity SafeLives through seconded staff.According to the second annual review of the programme, published in 2023, audits had found that, in most cases, FCAs understood “the harm, risk of harm and impact on children of domestic abuse and their analysis of this informs their recommendations to the court”.
However, in a report last month on the handling of domestic abuse in private law cases in three court areas in 2023-24, the commissioner's office found FCAs had discouraged survivors from reporting their experiences to the court on the basis that contact with the perpetrator would be ordered in any case.
The period studied predates the publication last autumn of a domestic abuse policy by Cafcass, which requires practitioners and managers to “to listen to children and adults who have experienced domestic abuse and accurately record and share with the court what they have been told”.
Social work practice improving, says Cafcass chief
In an evidence session for the justice select committee's inquiry into family courts reform last month, Tiotto said: "There is evidence, I think, that our policy is improving practice, particularly in reporting to the court what victims are telling us, whether it’s before the first hearing or in the work after hearing."The position we’ve taken is if you have a known criminal history, have served a prison sentence, there is a police report or you’re being investigated for a violent or sexual crime, we will assume you are an adult of significant risk to the child and we will advise the court how we’ve assessed your suitability to have contact with your children."
She added: "I think we’ve travelling in the right direction but I wouldn’t want anyone listening to think I’m saying that we’ve sorted it, because we still haven’t.”
Domestic Abuse Commissioner acknowledges improvements
Sitting alongside Tiotto in the evidence session, Domestic Abuse Commissioner Nicole Jacobs acknowledged improvements in practice at Cafcass and Cafcass Cymru, which was also criticised in the 2020 harm panel report."In both instances, they have revised their domestic abuse best practice guidance," she told MPs. "Cafcass has best practice leads, whom I’ve met and had quite a few sessions with. These are things that are really important and impactful…We’re not there yet – have a look at my research, which is a fairly recent snapshot – but we have made some real strides.”
The research by the commissioner's office, supported by specialist academics Mandy Burton and Rosemary Hunter, involved analysis of 298 court files from 2023, observations of 95 cases in March to June 2024 and focus groups and interviews with domestic abuse survivors, judges, magistrates and Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru staff.
Family courts 'have pro-contact culture'
The study found evidence of domestic abuse in 73% of observed cases and 87% of case files. However, despite this, 33% of cases in the files studied ended with orders for the child to have shared residence with both parents and 44% ended with orders for unsupervised overnight contact with the non-resident parent.The report said that this was the result of a "pro-contact culture", under which "evidence of abuse is ignored, minimised or dismissed and survivors are discouraged from pursuing allegations", an issue which applied to Cafcass practice.
The commissioner's office found that in 81% of case files where domestic abuse was alleged, the FCA mentioned it in their safeguarding letter to the court, which sets out any concerns about the child based on interviews with the parents and welfare checks. However, the domestic abuse allegations were validated in just 64% of these letters.
When the court ordered a section 7 report into the child's welfare, the practitioner - who was from Cafcass in most cases - recommended unsupervised contact in 59% of cases in which domestic abuse was raised.
Social workers 'discouraging survivors from reporting abuse'
Survivors spoke of Cafcass practitioners being reluctant to record their allegations of domestic abuse and described a "lack of confidence in Cafcass officers due to their approach when they raised domestic abuse”, said the report."Survivors described being discouraged from raising allegations of domestic abuse by Cafcass, the courts, and sometimes their own lawyer (if they had one), because contact would be ordered regardless," it added.
Similarly, Cafcass interviewees suggested they had a high threshold for regarding domestic abuse as relevant to child arrangements, which was based on whether there was police involvement or criminal convictions.
'Unacceptable to dissuade victims from reporting experiences'
In response to the report, a Cafcass spokesperson said: "Since the publication of the harm panel report in 2020, Cafcass has prioritised training, learning from practice, listening to feedback from children and adults and the development of revised guidance and policy."Specifically, practitioners and managers are required to report adult and child experiences of domestic abuse using the same words that have been used to describe what is or has been happening.
"The policy expectation on this is clear. There is no occasion on which it would ever be acceptable to dissuade an adult or child from describing what life is like for them and what is happening in respect of domestic abuse."
The spokesperson added: "The report shows us that more careful and specific attention is needed to bring further improvement to children and families’ experiences of, and outcomes in, private law proceedings where domestic abuse is a factor.
"Additionally, we all need to be ambitious for children and determined that protective parents should not live with or have to tolerate violence, controlling behaviour, the threat of harm or actual harm."
Social workers 'threatened, harassed and disrespected'
However, they also highlighted the risks to FCAs arising from their work advising the court on what was safe for, and in the best interests of, children where there were "deeply disputed adult accounts about family life"."The work requires professional skill, tenacity, knowledge, experience and access to effective training and supervision," they added.
"Too many Cafcass practitioners, managers and family justice colleagues are threatened, harassed and disrespected when they are working with families in proceedings trying to understand what is best for children."
Presumption of contact to be repealed
Following the Domestic Abuse Commissioner's report, the government announced it would repeal the current presumption of parental involvement in family court decision making.This states that a court should presume that involvement of a parent in the life of a child, whether through direct or indirect contact, will further the child’s welfare so long as it can be done in a way that does not put the child at risk of suffering harm.
The 2020 harm report found that the presumption was rarely disapplied, reinforced a “pro-contact culture” and “[detracted] from the court’s focus on the child’s individual welfare and safety”.
In her appearance before the justice select committee, Tiotto said Cafcass welcomed the move. She added that it would enable FCAs to assess a child's safety and welfare without having to rebut a presumption that they would be safe with both parents, leading to "a clearer conversation between the social worker and the judge".
